CSF has been working with the Moore Foundation, IPAM, and FCDS to identify the relative riskiness of planned roads in the Amazon basin in terms of economic, social and environmental costs. Our goal is to promote better infrastructure decision-making in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru by contributing reliable data to the national road planning process.

For the past year, CSF-Bolivia has been working on an innovative platform called CASA Verde which aims to engage different sectors of Bolivian society including conservation NGOs, private companies, and the general public, who are interested in contributing to environmental conservation. The main objective of CASA Verde is to improve conservation of ecosystems that sustain life and productive activities in Bolivia by promoting greater participation and awareness in society. CASA Verde will also contribute to the implementation of the commitments assumed by Bolivia in the National Development Plan, as well as the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals.

Aerial view of a road through the Amazon forest in Ecuador. Photo credit: Dr. Morley Read

Infrastructure investments in the Amazon can support economic and social development, and bring services to remote populations. However, if poorly planned, they can also result in irreversible, destructive change to the environment and ecosystem services on which communities depend, and lead to inefficient use of economic resources.

With generous support from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, CSF is working on a project to identify the relative riskiness of planned road projects in terms of economic, social and environmental costs in the Amazon basin, and to engage decision makers to ensure that this analysis is relevant, understood and to the greatest extent possible considered in decision-making processes.